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NJ sheriffs: Return of Assata Shakur from Cuba would send world 'strong message'

The Sheriffs' Association of New Jersey has joined a chorus of law enforcement groups and public officials to demand the return of New Jersey fugitive Assata Shakur as the United States seeks to normalize relations with Cuba, which granted her political asylum after she broke out of prison.

The Sheriffs' Association of New Jersey has joined a chorus of law enforcement groups and public officials to demand the return of New Jersey fugitive Assata Shakur as the United States seeks to normalize relations with Cuba, which granted her political asylum after she broke out of prison.

"I would like to add my strong plea to our elected federal representatives to take immediate steps to return this fugitive to custody," Somerset County Sheriff Frank J. Provenzano, past president of the Sheriff's Association of New Jersey, said Tuesday.

In a letter to the state's congressional delegation, association president and Salem County Sheriff Charles M. Miller said "the Cuban government has been providing safe haven to this convicted murderer for the past 31 years."

Authorities continue to refer to her as Joanne Chesimard although she changed her name and is more commonly known by Shakur.

Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was in a vehicle pulled over by State Police on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick on May 2, 1973. She was in the middle of a shootout that killed Trooper Werner Forester and injured Trooper James Harper.

Chesimard, who argued that she did not fire any weapon, was convicted of first-degree murder by a Middlesex County jury in March 1977 and sentenced to life in prison.

In 1979, with the aid of armed accomplices, she broke out of what was then known as the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County. Authorities believe she moved to Cuba in 1984. She remains on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List with a $2 million reward for her capture.

Miller said her return would "send a stern message worldwide that criminal acts against United States law enforcement officers will not be tolerated and those responsible will be brought to justice."

The state's lawmakers already have called for her return.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menenedez, D-N.J., says the Communist island nation should not be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism as long as it continues to harbor Chesimard. Republican Reps. Leonard Lance and Scott Garrett have sought to withhold funding for normalizing diplomatic relations until she is extradited.